On Monday this week we started picking the big fall planting of Bolero storage carrots. If you’ve been following Katie’s writing over the summer, you know how important this planting is for fall and winter CSA shares alike; Bolero carrots are a huge part of what makes winter worth living for at Featherstone Farm (carrot sticks on the cross country ski trail, anyone?). Please do not let the size of these carrots put you off… they are as snappy and sweet as any “baby” carrot from Kern County, California. (And WAY better for you and for the environment, I may add…). And remember that they are distinct from the bunched “early season” Nelson carrots that have been in your last 3 weeks’ boxes. These will store for many, many weeks in your refrigerator without losing a bit of quality. In 2014 we’ve committed ourselves to having more carrots in boxes all season long, as part of the overall shift in focus to “bread and butter crops.” So you can look forward to bunched Nelson carrots in July and August. But to me, such “summer carrots” lack the crazy good flavor and snap of the fall crop. There’s something about the snap of a Midwest autumn in the air (and a couple of hard frosts!) that brings out the best in carrots. Take that, Kern County!-Jack